Shopping with Stitchpunks
by 14SpiralTree
Summary: One day when the stitchpunks are out in the Emptiness, they come across something they NEVER expected to find there. Written from all of their perspectives. Very AU sorry
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Yokay, this is a pretty random fanfic, but I hope you like it anyway! It's very AU, since a whole shopping centre remains after the Apocalypse (*cough**cough*) and because the 9 are all together. Soooo, here you go...**

Chapter One (1's POV)

Yippee. I am so excited. I am currently experiencing the most exhilarating and brilliant chapter of my life. I cannot contain my happiness. Here I am, out in the emptiness, walking in no particular direction surrounded by a bunch of abnormal idiots. Fun or what?

'So, what are you doing out there?' I hear you (who seems to think it perfectly acceptable to look in an old stitchpunk's diary) ask. Well, guess what? It was one of the abnormal idiots; a.k.a 2, thinking that it would be 'delightfully pleasant to go on a walk in the lovely weather'. And how wrong was he?

_They _seem to be enjoying it though. Well, they would. A bunch of freaks like them are sure to enjoy something like this. The small inky one, 6, is gleefully skipping along, with the twins wandering after him, occasionally turning to one another to share a flicker of lights and that stupid clicking noise they always make. Behind 3 and 4 strolls a content-looking 2. Sure, _he_'s content, but not all of us are happy with his stupid idea to come out here. He chats to 5, who walks next to him, about whatever blueprints for some stupid inventions that they are planning to build. Following them is 9, the not-particularly-bright fellow who 'accidently' ended up killing most of us. But I do not wish to go into much detail about that. Next to 9 walks 7. I. Hate. Her. So. Much. I will have to look away from that horrible girl before I explode with and send 8, who staggers beside me, flying off into the distance. He staggers because of the stuff I made him carry out here. I'm taking no risks in this stupid place.

Then there's me, 1. I am supposedto be the leader of this group, but I am not leading them; I'm walking at the back of the queue. And why is that? It's because they all think that _they_ can do whatever they want, and even have the nerve to make _me _do that with them. Humph. They respect me like cats respect dogs. They don't.

And I do not respect the back. Yes, 7, 9 and the twins _may_ have brought us all back to life. And yes, they haven't actually tried to rebel against me (Well, except 7). But they do not obey my orders, and go about their stupid lives doing whatever they please. That is not how _my_ society works. My society would be a perfect hierarchy with me at the top (obviously) and the rest below me. A leader and his followers. I could rule over these stitchpunks. I could rule over this world. With no one to stop me.

Talking of stopping, the idiots up ahead of me are slowly coming to a halt; 6 first, then the twins, then 2, and so on, creating a domino effect of stitchpunks almost falling onto one another. I push past them and charge up the slope we were climbing. Then I see it. This is why they need a leader, someone to control them. Because there is something up ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi there! Sorry this took so long- I kind of forgot about it for a while (don't hate me!), but I already had this typed up. Thanks for the reviews, please tell me what you think of this chapter. So, here goes...**

Chapter Two (5's POV)

"What on earth..." 2 utters in a confused tone. He continues to stare at the huge object out in front of us, far off in the distance of this emptiness.

I squint at the object which he stares at. It's too far off to make out any clear details, but I glimpse that it takes the shape of a large building. A stream of relief floods through me. It's not a machine. And it doesn't look particularly dangerous. But I guess there's no telling in such a dangerous place as the emptiness what could lie behind those closed doors. But still we decide to check it out.

1, being the 'leader', takes the head of our group. He herds us up a tall mound of moulding rubbish, 8 at his side for protection. When you compare our size to that of this pile, you can imagine how hard it would be to climb it, especially with the revolting stink of the rubbish hanging in the air. We scale a few more of these mounds then, about an hour later, we find ourselves in a tangled mess of overgrown tumbleweed. As you can guess, clambering our way through this does leave a couple of scratches.

We are still not close enough to the building to see it properly, but I can now tell you that it's very, very big. Well, most things are 'big' to us stitchpunks, but this thing is like, enormously big! We continue walking for about half an hour, me chatting to 2 about our latest blueprints for something called a 'television'. We're sure it'll take a while to make, but looking at some books in the library about this 'television', it'll be worth our efforts. 1 continues to lead, occasionally turning around to bark some orders at us;

"Move faster, you snails!"

"Get up, you lazy little fool!" (6 randomly collapsed and 9, 7 and I had to help him back up.)

And finally, "Stop there!"

We all halt at his order. "Why have we stopped?" 9 asks 1.

"Idiot. Look ahead. That is why we have stopped." 1 replies. The 8 of us follow his instruction.

Rising high above us stands the enormous building. With it being only a few yards away now, I can see its details more clearly. And it is like nothing I have ever seen before.

I've been inside the Cathedral and the Factory, but this structure is on a whole new level of curiosity. We are stood in front of two massive, glass doors. Their transparency shows us the inside; a huge hallway-type-thing with some moving steps leading to an upstairs corridor. Yes, the steps actually move! They rise up to the top in a gradual movement, and then seem to vanish into the upstairs floor. I look above the glass doors to see windows lining the walls of the grubby outdoor walls of the building. It doesn't really look like there's a great deal on the outside to see. Besides, it would take a while to walk around the walls of such a huge building, and a chilly breeze is picking up out here. We want to see the inside.

But what if there's something in there? A machine, waiting to get us? I mean, we've never even seen this building before, so anything could be lurking in those seemingly empty corridors, couldn't it? I don't want to risk it. "Um, everyone, shouldn't we head back? It's a little cold and we don't-" My nervous words are cut off when the others open up the large glass doors, and I have no choice but to follow them through into the intimidatingly- large building.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 (9's POV)

Humans. They are all around us. I know what they look like from the books in the library, and, admittedly, from seeing those dead bodies in the City; lying on the cold streets, burns and bruises spread across their skin, blood streaming from-

But there are no humans. They are all dead. So how can they be here, staring down at us? And why are they not trying to catch us, like flies in a net, to take us to some laboratory and test on the strange new specimen that we are to them?

They are standing behind some strange glass walls that are covering two sides of the corridor. The glass seems to be covering rooms. Maybe the people are trapped in them– but no, there are doors in the glass for them to escape through. Yet they all stand motionless. I, for one, need an explanation.

I edge slowly down the corridor towards the nearest person, looking around me as I go, to make sure that none of them move for me. But they don't, so I pick up speed and reach the two humans that stand in the glass of the room closest to our entrance. I look up into one of their faces.

Two unblinking, colourless eyes bore into me. They show no passion, no feeling. The lips are positioned in a straight, impassive line. It doesn't twist into a frown or a smile. My eyes trail down the figure, and I see that the chest is not rising and falling, and this is definitely what humans look like when they breathe. Not that I have ever seen a human breathing; I awakened after they had all died. But I'm pretty sure they have to breathe...

A sudden flickering starts up behind me. I turn to see that the twins are showing a film. 5 and 7 are trying to make them stop – we don't want the humans to come for us or anything. But the twins, usually being the most timid of us all, don't look nervous in the slightest. They continue their reel and the rest of us have no choice but to watch what they are trying to show us.

On one of the non-glass walls in the hallway, the twins' film shows a black and white image of some people walking down a corridor, much like the one we are standing in. They carry tons of bags in their hands, and chat happily to each other as they walk. The picture moves left to display some very recognisable glass-walls-with-doors-in-them. And behind them stands some unmoving humans. A notice is plastered onto a wall, with an arrow pointing towards the humans in the room. It reads 'Like the outfits on the mannequins? Then come in store and look around- you're sure to find something you want!' The images flicks up to the ceiling, and some words appear on the wall; '_Sale now on at the Evergreen Meadow shopping centre- amazing bargains, just for you!' _The wall turns blank.

"Of course!" says 2.

"What? That made no sense and I think we should leave this stinking building right now, before those humans smash through the glass and come and-" 1 yells, panicked.

"No, 1, that's exactly it; they aren't going to come and get us because they are not alive. They're mannequins- it's a French word, I think- just figures that are used for advertising clothes. You see the clothes they are wearing? They would've been sold to people. They're nothing to be afraid of." 2 replies.

"So you think it's safe here?"

"Perfectly. It must be remarkably well- protected if it's not even singed from the war, so I don't think anything will have got inside since then." 2 points out.

"So... can we explore?" 7 asks the question on all of our minds.

"Yes. Just be careful not to get lost, and you'll be fine."

So off we go.


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N/ Sorry for not updating in aaaaaaages- I have been thinking about other fanfics and it is summer so I've been away on holiday for some time and I've been thinking more about what to put in further chapters of this and other stuff and *gasps* sorry! If you are still reading this, thank you sooo much for sticking with me and because I've been so bad at updating I will try to update this, and my other fanfic, **_**at least**_** once week until I have finished the two 9 ones I have going at the moment finished. Sound fair? Okay, on with the story! **

Chapter 4 (2's POV)

If you were inside the most fascinating yet enormous place you had ever seen, complete with perhaps a hundred or so rooms, where would you explore first? Well, ideally, I'd like to explore all of it- the thought alone of all the human inventions in those countless rooms makes me shudder with curiosity and excitement. But we might be best getting back to the Cathedral before dark, so unfortunately our time here isn't exactly unlimited. So I guess I should get discovering what lies beyond those glass walls...

After my claiming that this building is perfectly safe to explore, the others went their separate ways, each trying to find something of interest to them in this huge place. But everything here is probably of interest to me, so where_ should _I look first?

I wander down the corridor on my left, looking closely through each glass window to see what lies behind it. This place is like what humans would have called a 'museum' to me. And each room holds a different artefact of how the humans lived. The first room I pass has two mannequins in its window, each clothed in garments of a beautiful silky material. From this I gather that this room is a 'clothes shop'. I would, of course, like to explore its' interior, but I must keep looking for a shop that could really help me in my inventive life.

The second shop looks empty. A notice on the window reads '_Shoes Galore_- _Shop now closed. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.' _Maybe not one to search in then.

The third shop is another clothes shop. This time the mannequins wear 'T-shirts' and 'shorts'. I think this is a clothes shop for the male gender, and perhaps the first was to suit females. I walk on.

The next room is yet another clothes shop. The one after this is the same. For a moment, I am wondering if all of the shops in this centre will be clothes ones (which, don't misunderstand me, I would still like to look around), when I see it.

It must be about the eighth or ninth shop I have passed, but this one is not like the others before it. No, this one, if I may say such a thing, is my kind of shop!

The sign above the door tells me that this is '_Woodcraft Hardware Store'_ and that it is '_for those who take DIY seriously'_. DIY, I have read, stands for Do It Yourself. I like to do things for myself, so I suppose this shop is for me. But it is not the sign that draws me into this shop. It is what is behind the window.

There are, of course, no mannequins in this window. In fact, there are only a few posters advertising 'drills' and 'saws'. But behind the window there are the actual 'drills' and 'saws', and plenty more! Just look through the window I can see many shelves stretching along the length of one of the shops' walls. I can't yet make out what is on them, but it is sure to be interesting.

I can't hold my curiosity any longer, so I walk over to the glass door and carefully push it open. Nothing dangerous happens, so I step through and close the door behind me. I take another step forward. Then I just stare.

I can see more clearly now that the shelves hold tons of little jars. Each hold tiny things called 'bolts' and 'screws'. I can now also see that on one side of the shelves are many large boxes, with pictures of drills and saws on them. Of course, I can't reach up to these shelves, but then, very fortunately, I look around and find that there is a 'stepladder' leaning against one wall. Perhaps I could drag it over to the shelves and try to climb up?

I try this out and, after a lot of slipping and almost-falling, I manage to heave myself up onto the lowest shelf.

And now, it is time to explore!

**A.N/ Thank you so much if you are still reading this, I will try my absolute hardest to update much more quickly in future! Please tell me what you think of this chapter, because I'm not sure I got 2s' voice quite right? I don't know, you can probably tell better than me, as the readers (if there are any of you left!). As well as updating, I'll try and get better at reviewing stories, because (you know the feeling!) when you feel kind of lazy sometimes you don't feel like typing, so you don't review peoples work (No? Maybe that's just me?) And I know it really helps people to get reviews. So, I will try to do everything in my power to become a better fanficker (Yes, spell-check, I know that 'fanficker' is not a word!). **

**Thank you (Once again!), and sorry for such a long Authors Note,**

**14SpiralTree :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey! Okay, that wasn't exactly what you'd call 'quick' updating, but, as promised, I've updated in just under a week! Next up is 3's POV, but obviously both twins go to the same shop (sorry 4, but there sadly won't be a chapter in your point of view because 3 is telling it for both of you!) **

Chapter Five- 3's POV

Books. Everywhere.

We had thought the library held all the books in the world, but obviously we were very wrong. Although in comparison to the library this place is really quite small, surely there will be books here that the library's walls do not hold. This, for us, is possibly the most exciting thing in the world!

4 and I had left the others as soon as 2 had said that we were safe to, keen to see what this building had to offer. We'd been walking along one of the huge corridors, occasionally pointing things out to each other in our own little language (which, to others, would seem like a load of clicking and flashing), when something caught our optics. Inside one of the rooms behind the glass windows, stood a bookshelf. Next to it, another. And a third one.

This would be what humans used to call a 'bookshop'.

Having read many of the books in our library, 4 and I know a little about shops. A bookshop, we had gathered, was like a library but, as you do in all shops, you have to buy the books instead of borrowing them. This may have seemed silly if we hadn't read on to find out that you could actually keep the books you'd bought from a bookshop, whereas in a library you have to return them within several weeks. But, since all of the humans are dead, who would you buy the books from now?

We stared at the shop for a few moments longer. Books are like treasure to us; we can never get enough of them and they seem so hard to find in places other than the library. We quickly pulled out of our trance though; there's not enough time in the day to stand around looking in awe at something- you have to seize opportunities like this!

So, we ran towards the shop and managed, with quite a bit of straining, to push open the glass door and walk inside. And here we are now.

The bookshelves stretch almost all the way along the three non-glass walls. They seem to be made of wood, perhaps that of an oak tree. At the end of one wall, with a space behind it for a person to stand in, is what is called a counter. It is where you would go to purchase the items you wanted, if there was anyone to purchase them from. On the shelves are, obviously, books. Hundreds of them. And, like they are in our library, these are sectioned off into collections of different types of book.

One shelf is reserved for books of the genre (a word humans used for types of books) of 'Romance'. These are about humans kissing each other and doing stuff that 7 and 9 occasionally do. They are really not me and 4s' favourite books. Another shelf holds a type called 'Crime and Thriller'. Now, this shelf actually hold two types of books, but these are often sectioned off together. They normally contain a lot of action; like murders or thefts or car chases. Also not our preference of genre. The shelf along from this is labelled 'Horror'. These scare 4 and I; they are stories of ghosts and zombies and things humans called 'monsters'. I suppose the machines fit into that word. Monsters. The next shelf contains 'Non-fiction' books. Basically, they are not stories, and are about real-life things that actually exist in the conscious world. Some of these can be slightly boring, but they are good for learning about the world the humans lived in. Another genre is 'Biographies and Autobiographies'. These are also about real-life, but they are about famous humans. Biographies are just the lives of popular people, told by another person, and Autobiographies are written by the person whose life the book is about. These are also good for learning about humans. There are Mystery books, about people investigating something strange that has happened; these are normally quite complicated but very intriguing. And, last but most definitely not least, are me and 4s' favourite books- children's. They are very simple, but we think that they are the most interesting books of all. They are about children (or even animals!) that go on amazing adventures with pirates and princesses and wizards. We love these books.

But, of course, we really love all books; it's just that we find these to be the most interesting to us. If we could, we would sit here forever to read all of the books in this shop! But we can't, and we're already wasting our time by staring at them.

We can reach the books on the bottom shelves, but they are just small enough for us to climb up to higher ones to find the books we are looking for; if we take turns in standing on each others' shoulders we can just about clamber up.

Then we realise. We don't have to read all of the books here; we could take them back to the library! Surely there is a trolley around here somewhere; we could put some of the books in there and push it back home. It wouldn't be classed as stealing because there are no humans to steal from, so these books are no use to them! Still, we can't take the whole shop with us, so we have to get choosing!

**There you go! Yeah, I'm not sure I got the twins' POV quite right either, but they're not the easiest to do; I haven't found any fanfics in their POV (could someone tell me if there is one please, because I really want to see how different people would do it.) Anyway, what do you guys think? If you've read this far, and if you have time, could you tell me how you thought the chapter was, because I knew this would probably be the hardest one for me to write (I won't bite you if you don't, it just helps). I've not given up on my promise to update at least once a week, so don't expect a long wait again!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**14SpiralTree :D**


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